I had never worked with a personal shopper or personal stylist before, and I am so glad I found Ella (thanks to Citysearch, I might add)!
My clothes tended to look all the same -- probably because I only shop at the same places . . . Banana, Gap, you know the drill. I am pear-shaped, and generally wore pretty baggy clothes for this reason, meaning I looked pretty dowdy all the time. No new unique pieces -- just another pair of black work pants and another sweater on top. I'm also rather OCD when it comes to clothes; for example, I hate gold or brass on anything (buckles, zippers, etc.) and will only buy something if it doesn't have that. So overall, I found shopping at all extremely frustrating. When I saw something in a color I liked, it would never fit. End result -- I stopped shopping in person and just ordered more of the same on line.
Ella definitely got me. We spoke extensively initially and she checked out my closet to see what was missing (little tops, cute jackets, dark tailored jeans) and what I already had a lot of (pants, coats, plain cardigans). We then met for a three-hour shopping trip at Saks. She had lots of pieces waiting in a huge beautiful dressing room and then -- as I tried things and and said, ""I like it"" or ""We can do better"" -- went back out and got even more clothes for me to try. It was definitely the least-stressful clothes shopping experience I've ever had. I got new styles and looked a good 7lbs lighter. For me, this was an enormous success. It got me out of my rut.
The overall best thing, though, about working Ella was that I got some shopping mojo back for myself. I don't feel as intimidated by dept. stoes now, and I've already been back and bought two new sweaters on my own that are nothing like every other identical preppy sweater in my closet. I will definitely be working with Ella again -- both for a ""how to style things from your own closet"" session and another shopping trip in the spring
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